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GAT Saint Louis was founded to provide training in the Filipino martial arts (FMA) of Garimot arnis, buno, and esgrima to the Midwest. Arnis (also called eskrima, escrima, or kali) deals with the use of and defense against weapons; Garimot arnis is a system that integrates different styles from the northern area of the Philippines (Luzon) and incorporates many types of weapons, including sword, knife, stick, staff, spear, and shield. Garimot buno consists of wrestling and striking, as well as the use of a rope in fighting. Garimot esgrima is a unique type of Filipino fencing, using swords with long, thin blades.

The training at GAT St. Louis is guided by a group of martial artists with decades of experience.

Weapons

In addition to empty-hand striking and wrestling, we train to use and defend against many different weapons, with the following being the most common.

Stick

Stick

Nearly all weapons training in arnis begins with a stick about two-and-a-half feet long. It is sometimes paired with a knife, but is more often paired with another stick when not used alone. Because the stick is often seen as a substitute for the sword in training, a wooden sword is sometimes carved for training, called a brokil. The stick (baston) used for training is commonly made of rattan, a climbing palm, straightened and dried. This is due to the ability of rattan to withstand repeated hard impact without shattering; rattan fibers will begin to shred, but remain intact.

Sword

sword

We not only train the use of a Filipino sword and the defense against one, but also methods to quickly draw the sword from its scabbard, known as bunot armas. There are many names for the sword in Laguna - some are generic (itak, tabak), others refer to the shape of the blade (dahon palay, dahon buho), but the general term that everyone knows is bolo. The sword is sometimes known by the Spanish term espada, especially when paired with a dagger, which is known as espada y daga (or sometimes by the Tagalog tabak at balaraw).

Knife

knife

Also known as daga or balaraw, the knife is a very common weapon, so learning to defend yourself against it is vital. Undoubtedly the most famous Filipino knife is the balisong, from Batangas. This knife can be manipulated in very flashy and entertaining ways, but essentially the balisong is an old version of a modern folding pocket knife - able to be quickly opened or closed with one hand, and safely carried without a sheath.

Rope

rope

The rope (lubid) is the only weapon used in Garimot buno. Weighted on both ends, it can be used for striking, blocking, tying, choking, locking, and disarming. Its proper use takes much more practice than other weapons, but it can easily be transferred to other flexible weapons.